6.  The applicant was born in 1967 and is currently held in the Kırklareli Foreigners' Admission and Accommodation Centre, in Turkey.
7.  The applicant first entered Turkey on 24 September 2002 using a false passport. She began living and working in Istanbul without informing the Turkish authorities or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“the UNHCR”).
8.  On 22 October 2003 the applicant applied to the UNHCR and asked to be recognised as a refugee. On an unspecified date in 2004 she was detained by the Turkish authorities and deported to Iran, where she claims to have been imprisoned for nine months and subjected to ill‑treatment.
9.  Following her release from prison in Iran, the applicant re‑entered Turkey illegally on 3 February 2005. She learned that her case before the UNHCR had been closed in her absence.
10.  In June 2006 the applicant was diagnosed with myomatosis of the uterus and operated in a private hospital on 5 June 2006. The medical reports, in particular the pathology results, revealed that there were no cancerous cells.
11.  In the meantime, she became interested in Christianity and began attending Bible classes. On 7 September 2007 the applicant was baptised in a Protestant church in Istanbul. On an unspecified date the applicant's son, who was attending the Iranian Consulate School in Istanbul, was expelled on the ground of “conduct against the school's faith”. Some time within a year of that incident the applicant applied to the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul for a passport. While there, she was asked to complete a form stating that she was a Christian.
12.  On an unspecified date at the end of 2007, the applicant applied to the UNHCR and requested that her case be re-examined.
13.  On 3 May 2008 the applicant went to the Fatih police headquarters in Istanbul in order to make statements as a witness regarding a criminal offence committed by third persons. As she was found to have identity documents with different names on them, an investigation was initiated into this and she was arrested. On an unspecified date she was released.
14.  On 9 May 2008 the applicant was rearrested on suspicion of infringement of visa requirements and forging official documents. According to a letter sent by the Istanbul police to the Department responsible for foreigners, borders and asylum attached to the General Police Headquarters on the same day, the applicant had stated that she did not wish to live in Iran and that she had come to Turkey in order to apply to the UNHCR. The same letter stated that the applicant had been placed in the Foreigners' Department of the Istanbul police headquarters with a view to her deportation from Turkey.
15.  On 13 May 2008 the director of the department responsible for foreigners, borders and asylum attached to the General Police Headquarters requested the Istanbul police headquarters to obtain statements from the applicant regarding a number of issues, including her failure to apply to the Turkish authorities when she had applied to the UNHCR, the reason why she had made multiple entries and exits between Iran and Turkey and why she was staying illegally in Turkey. The director also requested that the possible security risks that the applicant may pose in Turkey be determined.
16.  On 16 May 2008 the applicant sent another letter to the Ministry of the Interior. Referring to her medical condition, she requested urgent treatment and asked to be released and issued with a temporary residence permit pending the proceedings before the UNHCR and the Court.
17.  On the same day the applicant was questioned by a police officer at the Istanbul police headquarters. She maintained, inter alia, that she had initially entered Turkey with a false passport and that she had been deported to Iran where she had spent nine months in prison. She contended that when she re-entered Turkish territory on 3 February 2005 she had immediately re-applied to the UNHCR. She noted that she was against the present government in Iran and that she and her family members had been oppressed when they lived in Iran. The applicant mentioned that she had left and re‑entered Turkish territory as that was the only way to renew her visa. She further contended that she had not applied to the Turkish authorities earlier as her case had been closed by the UNHCR.
18.  On 20 May 2008 the applicant's statements were sent to the General Police Headquarters by the Istanbul police.
19.  On 6 and 16 May and 2 June 2008, the applicant's representative lodged petitions with the Istanbul Police Headquarters and requested that his client be released and given a residence permit pending the outcome of her application to the UNHCR.
20.  By a letter dated 10 June 2008, the deputy director of the Istanbul police headquarters informed the Kırklareli police headquarters that the applicant did not wish to return to her country, but wished to seek asylum, and had applied to the Court. The director reiterated that she had been held in the Istanbul police headquarters with a view to her deportation. He further maintained that the applicant should be held in the Kırklareli Foreigners' Admission and Accommodation Centre pending the outcome of the proceedings before the Court. On the same day the applicant was transferred to that facility.
21.  On 18 July 2008 the Ministry of the Interior informed the applicant that her case before the Turkish authorities was suspended pending the proceedings before the Court.
22.  On 29 December 2008 the applicant and her son were recognised as refugees, under the UNHCR's mandate, on religious grounds.
23.  On 14 April 2009 the applicant's representative lodged a case with the Ankara Administrative Court. He requested the court to annul the decision of the Ministry not to release his client and to order a stay of execution of that decision pending the proceedings.
24.  On 28 May 2009 the Ankara Administrative Court rejected the applicant's request for a stay of execution.
25.  The applicant's representative appealed. On 24 June 2009 the Ankara Regional Administrative Court dismissed the appeal.
26.  In his submissions to the Court dated 16 May 2008 the applicant's representative contended that, although the applicant was suffering from serious consequences of the operation she underwent in June 2006, she did not have access to a doctor in the Kırklareli Foreigners' Admission and Accommodation Centre. On 18 June 2008 he informed the Court that the applicant had been examined by a doctor, who had ordered a further medical examination. Despite this, the Ministry of the Interior did not authorise a further examination and the applicant's health was deteriorating.
27.  On 27 August 2008 the applicant, with four other persons, started a “fast to the death” to protest about her placement and the physical conditions in the Centre.
28.  Before the Court, the applicant maintained that the physical conditions in the Kırklareli Centre were below the minimum standards set by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (the “CPT”). In support of her submissions the applicant provided a number of photographs containing images of several parts of the Centre. In one room there were two bunk beds on which there were pillows and blankets. There was no bed linen on the beds. In another room there were two beds with bed linen, pillows and blankets. The photographs of the kitchen sinks and stoves showed that the latter were unusable. Another photograph showed that there were four sinks in the bathroom. Inside, the toilets were partially covered with some kind of dark substance. Photographs of the cleaning products that had labels in the Cyrillic alphabet showed that their dates had expired nine to ten years ago.
29.  The applicant finally alleged that the officers who worked at the Kırklareli Centre did not treat the detainees well. In particular, she had been insulted and threatened by a police officer.
30.  The Government replied that the applicant was subjected to a series of medical examinations during July 2008 at the Kırklareli State Hospital According to the documents submitted, blood tests, an abdomino-pelvic ultrasound examination and an abdominal tomography were performed on the applicant. The doctors found no pathological signs as a result of these examinations.
31.  The Government denied the applicant's allegation that the physical conditions at the Kırklareli Foreigners' Admission and Accommodation Centre did not comply with the minimum standards established by the CPT. Noting that the Centre in question was not a detention facility, the Government provided photographs of a birthday party and an engagement party, both organised in the common room of the Kırklareli Centre. They further submitted photographs of an Islamic celebration (Festival of Sacrifice) organised in the garden of the Centre.
32.  In their submissions dated 9 September 2009, the Government maintained that an investigation had been initiated into the actions of the police officer who had allegedly insulted the applicant in relation to the latter's complaint of ill-treatment.